Genel has started to export oil directly from Kurdish Iraq to Turkey by lorry,
in defiance of Iraq’s central government in Baghdad.

The exports, from the Taq Taq field, in which Genel has a 45 per cent share,
could reach between 10,000 and 20,000 barrels per day in the coming weeks
and risks inflaming a row between Iraq’s Kurdish capital Erbil and Baghdad
over control of the country’s natural resources.

Tony Hayward, the former BP boss who is chief executive of Genel, said: “The
Kurdistan Regional Government has given us approval to begin trucking
relatively small volumes of crude.”